Photos from inside a temporary shelter for migrants from Customs and Border Protection in Texas offer a sobering look at the overcrowded conditions facing hundreds of children in US custody.
The photos, which were provided to Axios Monday by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), were taken over the weekend at a “soft” CBP facility in Donna, Texas. He said he did not take the photos himself.
They come as the Biden administration continues the unprecedented media blackout in these facilities – with the Department of Homeland Security outright refusing to allow journalists to visit and report on the circumstances.
In a conversation with Axios, Cuellar described what he saw as “terrible conditions for the children,” arguing that minors should be brought into the care of the Department of Health and Human Services much more quickly.
Under US law, unaccompanied minors must be transferred from CBP to HHS care within 72 hours.
But in the wake of the spiral border crisis, children have reportedly been in CBP care for more than 10 days.
The new administration’s attempts to reverse former President Donald Trump’s border policies have sparked a flood of Central American and Mexican illegal migrants at the US border, including thousands of unaccompanied children.
The children, entering the US without their parents or another adult, spend an average of 136 hours in border patrol security before being handed over to Heath and Human Services.
Given the extraordinary crisis facing Border Patrol, Cuellar argued that agents “did their best under the circumstances” but “are not equipped to take care of children” and “need help from the administration.”
More photos of the House Democrat showed children huddled amid a contagious pandemic – a problem that will only get worse as the migrant rise is expected to escalate.
Customs and Border Protection registered more than 34,000 border crossings in just 19 days last Thursday. As of Saturday, a total of 10,000 migrants were detained by the Dutch DPA.
Cuellar did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.